It’s time for another big Gameloft release. Today, it’s the first Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six game to grace the iPhone and iPad — a first-person shooter that you can play cooperatively with two other friends, or take on alone as a squad commander. We’ve also got all the details on Mission Europa, a massive first-person […]

It’s time for another big Gameloft release. Today, it’s the first Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six game to grace the iPhone and iPad — a first-person shooter that you can play cooperatively with two other friends, or take on alone as a squad commander. We’ve also got all the details on Mission Europa, a massive first-person role-playing game, and Tiki Ride, an addictive symbol-matching puzzler.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Shadow Vanguard (iPhone, iPad) $6.99

The squad-based first-person shooter franchise that has been a big hit on console gaming systems and PCs, and now Gameloft is bringing it to the iPhone and iPad for the first time. You’ll lead the three-man Rainbow Six special ops squad, tasked with bringing down terrorists and infiltrating dangerous situations when other military forces won’t do. Shadow Vanguard packs 11 missions to play through, in which you’ll do lots of shooting and also issue orders to your squadmates in order to gain tactical superiority over your enemies.

Raibow Six lets you take on its terrorist-fighting missions with up to two additional friends in co-op mode using a Bluetooth connection, or you can take the fight online and engage in multiplayer deathmatches against as many as nine human opponents. The game’s missions are based on previous Rainbow Six games, so the whole package should be familiar to fans and engaging to new players alike.

Tiki Ride (iPhone) $0.99

Rotation and planning are the order of the day in Tiki Ride, a puzzle game in which symbols descend from the top of the screen and you have to move six collectors in a circle. Symbols are color-coded, so in order to collect them, you’ll have to match the colors with the spaces on your wheel. The more symbols you snag, the more points you’ll earn per puzzle — but you only have so much time to complete each puzzle.

As you collect symbols, you’ll need to rotate the wheel to try to make combinations of at least three symbols in a row. The more symbols you can put together, the more points you’ll pull down. Each of Tiki Ride’s 50 levels requires you to make a certain number of combinations before time runs out.

Mission Europa Standard Ed. HD (iPhone, iPad) $3.99

More than 50 hours of gameplay await in Mission Europa, a huge role-playing game that’s got 50 levels and more than 170 missions to battle through. The story takes place on Jupiter’s ice moon of Europa, where you’ve been dispatched to perform a rescue mission at a mining facility. Mission Europa melds RPG elements with a first-person shooter graphical approach, putting you in the middle of the horror.

Europa includes more than 300 cutscenes to push its story forward, a multiplayer battle arena where you can challenge other players, and tons of different items and weapons for you to use in battle. You’ll wield swords and guns equally against something like 60 different monsters.

Phil Hornshaw is a freelance writer, editor and author living in Los Angeles, dividing his time between playing video games, playing video games on his cell phone, and writing about playing video games. He’s also the co-author of So You Created a Wormhole: The Time Traveler’s Guide to Time Travel, which attempts to mix time travel pop culture with some semblance of science, as well as tips on the appropriate means of riding dinosaurs. Check out his Google+ profile.